Media, Marines, and Rules of War
Posted by James Joyner at 13:56 - Outside the Beltway blog
Bill at INDC is outraged at mainstream media portrayals of the shooting over the weekend of an apparently unarmed terrorist by a U.S. Marine in Fallujah.
No. We are not going to let the MSM do this. We are not going to let them blow up an incident that took place in the heat of asymmetrical urban combat amid booby-trapped bodies and enemy atrocities into a full-scale worldwide spectacle of American self-flagellation. When Abu Ghraib took place, I was disgusted by the repellent actions of the soldiers that casually abused their prisoners; I wanted them punished for the damage that they did to US credibility as well as the shocking impropriety of their actions. But within two weeks, after dozens of front-page stories and top features crowded major dailies and cable news broadcasts, my sentiments shifted to anger at the US media for once again sensationalizing and taking an issue out of context, and incessantly editorializing condemnation of the Bush Administration and the much larger effort in Iraq.
American Soldier is somewhat more colorful in his analysis.
It's hard to disagree. While it's generally a good thing that our society is sensitive to the rules of war--rules which, by and large, only a handful of Western countries even come close to following--the portrayal of aberrant circumstances as if they're "the real story" is wrong. That said, I agree with Marine Commandant Michael Hagee:
In my personal opinion, embedded reporters have actually worked very well. They inform the American public about what these great young Americans are doing over there, and a large, large majority are doing... a tremendous job.
While, giving journalists largely unfettered access has its downsides, as this incident illustrates, the benefits are enormous. It gives the embeds a stake in the outcome and an appreciation of what our soldiers and Marines are going through. That a couple of them don't "get it" is no reason to end the program.
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